The Belgrade Stock Exchange (Belex), known locally as the Beogradska Berza (BB), refers to both the central platforms for trading Serbian securities and its eponymous controlling joint stock company listed on Belex. With market capitalization at about US$8 billion it is one of the Balkans' larger exchanges but is still, along with smaller exchanges in neighboring countries like Croatia and Macedonia, considered a target for acquisition or merger.

Background

The Belgrade Stock Exchange's forerunner, the Gradanska Kasina, held its founding meeting on November 21, 1894 to promote and regulate trading in the Kingdom of Serbia's securities, commodities and currency.[1] The exchange was shuttered in 1941 during WWII but was re-opened as the Yugoslav Capital Market in 1989 following the collapse of Communism in eastern Europe, becoming the Belgrade Stock Exchange in 1992. Belex launched its first electronic trading system in 2001 and its first index, the BELEX15, in early 2005.

In 2007 Belex signed a partnership agreement with nearby bourses the Macedonian Stock Exchange, Zagreb Stock Exchange and the Ljubljana Stock Exchange with a view towards future co-operation in regional trading. In the years after the global economic downturn of 2007-08 Belex and its neighbors struggled to recover, with Belex's total market capitalization in the first half of 2010 falling almost 10% in the six months to June 30.[2] However, Belex also received a boost in early 2010 when the Serbian government ordered that shares held by citizens in oil monopoly NIS, telco firm Telekom Srbija and Belgrade airport must be listed on Belex throughout 2010.[3]

Key people

Managing Director Gordana Dostanic was appointed to the position in 2002 after first joining Belex in 1992.

Latest news

Trading on Belex of shares of the formerly state-owned Oil Industry of Serbia (NIS) were postponed for the third time in late July, 2010 after the company cited logistical problems connected with its initial public offering.[5]The NIS announcement postponed its planned Belex share float from early August 2010 to a month later, despite the fact that in late March 2010 NIS had stated that its shares would be listed on the Belex by the end of June 2010.[6]After missing that deadline NIS next set August 1, 2010 as the date by which its shares would list on Belex, blaming "a large number of shareholders and the complexity of the procedure" for the IPO's second delay.[7]